Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., sent a letter to two virtual currency trade associations on Thursday asking them what their members are doing to prevent hate groups from using cryptocurrencies to finance themselves.

With so much uncertainty, the only thing that's clear is how different the sector may look a year from now. Here's an overview of the leading trends in technology that will impact payments and banking in 2018.

Beyond the initial coin offerings — a fundraising process, similar to an IPO, in which blockchain companies sell crypto tokens instead of shares — and myriad science projects, is there anything substantive occurring with blockchain?

A “neat” or “cool” idea may have garnered attention at the end of 2016, but the market has advanced to the point where a solid business idea that either addresses an unmet need and/or creates a significant cost savings is required to stand out from the crowd, writes Mariam Nishanian, a representative of Dentacoin.